WHY THE CHURCH OF CHRIST?

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  BECAUSE IT WAS FOUNDED BY THE SCRIPTUAL BUILDER -CHRIST
  BECAUSE IT WAS FOUNDED ON THE SCRIPTUAL FOUNDATION
  BECAUSE IT WAS FOUNDED AT THE SCRIPTUAL PLACE- JERUSALEM

  BECAUSE IT WAS FOUNDED AT THE SCRIPTURAL TIME- THE PENTECOST FOLLOWING THE  RESURRECTION OF CHRIST
  BECAUSE CHRIST IS THE FOUNDER OF ONLY ONE CHURCH- HIS CHURCH
  BECAUSE IT IS SCRIPTURAL IN NAME
  BECAUSE IT IS SCRIPTURAL IN ORGANIZATION
  BECAUSE IT HAS THE BIBLE AS ITS ONLY CREED, CONFESSION OF FAITH OR CHURCH MANUAL
  BECAUSE IT BELIEVES ALL THE BIBLE TO BE THE INSPIRED WORD OF GOD
  BECAUSE IT BELIEVES THE BIBLE IS A BOOK TO BE RIGHTLY DIVIDED
  BECAUSE IT IS UNDENOMINATIONAL
  BECAUSE IT IS SCRIPTURAL IN DOING MISSIONARY WORK
  BECAUSE IT TEACHES THE KINGDOM HAS BEEN ESTABLISHED AND CHRIST IS NOW REIGNING
  BECAUSE IT GIVES SCRIPTURAL ANSWERS TO THE QUESTION- WHAT MUST I DO TO BE SAVED
  BECAUSE IT TEACHES THAT MAN IS SAVED BY FAITH BUT NOT BY FAITH ONLY
  BECAUSE IT TEACHES THAT MAN IS SAVED BY THE BLOOD OF CHRIST
  BECAUSE IT TEACHES THAT A CHANGE OF HEART IS INDISPENSABLE TO MAN'S SALVATION
  BECAUSE OF ITS TEACHING AND PRACTICE CONCERNING PRAYER
  BECAUSE IT TEACHES AND ADMINISTERS SCRIPTURAL BAPTISM
  BECAUSE IT TEACHES THAT A CHILD OF GOD CAN SO SIN AS TO BE ETERNALLY LOST
  BECAUSE IT TEACHES THAT INFANTS ARE BORN PURE AND INNOCENT RATHER THAN DEPRAVED
  BECAUSE IT TEACHES THAT THE MIRACULOUS MANIFESTATIONS OF THE SPIRIT HAVE CEASED
  BECAUSE OF ITS SCRIPTURAL TEACHING AND OBSERVANCE OF THE LORD'S SUPPER
  BECAUSE IT HAS SCRIPTURAL MUSIC IN THE WORSHIP
  BECAUSE SALVATION IS IN CHRIST'S CHURCH
  
  1. INTRODUCTION
  Most denominational preachers say that man does not have to be a member of the church to be saved. If they mean denominations, the institutions of which they are members they are right. If they mean the church purchased by the blood, they are wrong.
  2. MEMBERSHIP IN CHRIST'S CHURCH IS ESSENTIAL TO SALVATION
       1. Salvation is in the church, because it is the blood-purchased institution:"the church of the Lord which he purchased with his own blood" (Acts 20:28). Paul said to the members of the church at Corinth, "You are not your own; for you were bought with a price" (1 Cor.6:19,20). That price was the blood of Christ. Let us note some deductions: (1) Church members were blood-bought; therefore, non-members were not blood bought. Who will say man can be saved apart from the blood? (2) The church is the only thing bought with the blood (Acts 20;28); therefore, those not in the church have not been blood-bought. (3) The church was purchased with the blood of Christ (Acts 20:28); therefore, if the church is a non-essential intitution, God gave the blood of Christ to no avail. Every person who says that man can be saved out of the church brings an indictment against God. It is equivalent to charging God with being an unmerciful friend who used the blood of His Son to purchase a worthless and unessential intitution. We care not in word or deed bring that charge against a' the Father of mercies and God of all comfort"!
       2. Salvation is in the church, for Paul promised that Christ would save the church: " For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, being himself the savior of the body" (Eph. 5:23). The body is the church (Col.1:18). Hence, Christ is the saviour of the body or the church. This being true, what about the non-members? They are living in the world without promise or hope.
       3. Salvation is in the church, because it is there that man is reconciled unto God; "And might reconcile them both in one body unto God throught the cross, having slain the enmity thereby" (Eph.2:16). Paul identifies the body as the church (Col.1:18). Note the premises and conclusion: (1) It is admitted that man must be reconciled to God to be saved. (2) Reconciliation unto God is the body or church (Eph.2:16;Col.1:18). Therefore, man must be in the church to be saved.
       4. Salvation is in the church, because that is the group that Christ will present unto himself: "That he might present the church to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish" (Eph.5:27). Christ is going to present the church to himself. If we are members of the church, all is well. If not, then how can we expect to be presented to Christ? Our only answer is an echo and a silence.
       5. Man cannot be saved out of the church, because God adds all the saved to it: "And the Lord added to them day by day those that were saved" (Acts 2:47). In the King James Version we find this wording: "And the lord added to the church, daily, such as should be saved." On that occasion three thousand were added to the church. In their lost condition they were not members, but in their saved condition they were members. Thus we see that to be saved was to be added to the church. They could not become saved without becoming members of the church. This makes it clear that the requirements of salvation and the requirements of church are the same. This means that all the lost are non-members, and all the saved are members. Hence, salvation is in the church, because it consists of all the saved. What about infants and mentally deficient persons? Are they in the church? No. They are safe, not saved, because they have never been lost.

       6. If one has to be a child in the family of God to be saved, he has to be a member of God's church to be saved. This is true because Paul declares that God's family or house is God's church. "But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how men ought to behave themselves in the house of God, the pillar and ground of the truth" ( 1Tim.3:15). The house of God is the church of God, and the house is the family. We read of the conversion of the jailor and his house (Acts 16:29-34), but it was his family instead of his residence that was converted. We also read that Cornelius "feared God with all his house" (Acts 10:2), but it was his family instead of his dwelling that feared God.. The house of God, family of God, is the church of God. If one is in the family if God, he is in the church of God. If he is not in the church of God, then he is not in the family. If he is not in the family of God, then he is not a child of God, because God does not have children out of his family. Preachers who teach that a man can be a child of God and not be a member of God's church or family are teaching that God has children out of his family and is guilty of spiritual adultery. This reproaches the name of God!
       7. Jesus, the Shepherd of the sheep, taught that man must enter the fold to be saved: "I am the door; by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved" (John:9). (1) salvation is within the fold (John.10:9). (2) The fold is the church (Acts 20:28). (3) Therefore, salvation is within the church.
       8. Man cannot be saved out of the church, because he cannot be saved without being a branch in the vine. Jesus in speaking to his disciples, said, "I am the vine, you are the branches" (John 15:5). Christ and his disciples constitute one glorious plant. Men cannot be saved from this for Jesus said in the fifth verse," apart from me, you can do nothing."
  
•      9. It is impossible to be saved out of the church, because it is impossible to be saved without being justified: "and whom he called, them he also justified" (Rom.8:30). "you were called in one body" (Col.3:15), and the body is the church ...(Col. 1:18). Notice: (1) The called are the justified. (2) The called are in the body, the church. (3) Therefore, the justitied are in the church. This makes it plain that if a man is not in the church, he has not been justified.
       10. It is impossible to be saved out of the church, because it is impossible to be saved without being delivered out of the power of darkness: " Who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love" (Col. 1:13). Those in the kingdom-and the kingdom is the church (Matt.16:18,19)-have been delivered out of the power of darkness. Hence, those not in the kingdom have not been delievered out of the power of darkness. Persons out of the kingdom or church are in need of having their eyes opened "that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive remission of sins and an inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith in me" (Acts 26:18).
       11.Let us look at the tabernacle as a type. There were the holy place and the most holy place. Types can be carried too far, but it seems that the Scriptures warrant our saying that the holy place was a type of a the church, and the most holy place was a type of heaven (Heb. 8,9,10). The point is this: They had to go through the holy place to get into the most holy place. Therefore, the Bible teaches in type that man must go through the church to get into heaven.
  This information is taken from the book by Leroy Brownlow WHY I AM A MEMBER OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST
       12. IS THE CHURCH AN UNKNOWABLE INSTITUTION Some say, "Yes, you have to be in the Lord's church to be saved, but it is invisible, mystical something that no human knows anything about." This is not true: (1) It is so reognizable that three thousand were known to have been added to it on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:41,47). They were not added until they were baptized (Acts 2:41). therefore, God will not add unbaptized persons to it today, because he is not a respecter of persons (Acts.10:34). (2) It is so visible that a great persecution arose against it " in Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad" (Acts.8:1). (3) The church is so knowable in any community that we find in the new Testament several letters addressed to it in various communities: Corinth, Galatia, Thessalonica,ect.